DC

Monday, April 9, 2012

Revel AC

Arrived home from a week in Colorado / Wyoming Thursday night. Or, more accurately, Friday morning. It was a long week, capped off with a very long Thursday, which began with a 6:00am wake up in a hotel in Fort Collins . . . a drive up I-25 to Cheyenne, Wyoming . . . a deposition at 9:00 am . . . a second deposition at 1:00 . . . a drive back from Cheyenne to Denver International . . . a 7:56pm flight back east to Dulles . . . a two hour time change . . . and a 35 minute drive from the airport home. Walked in the door at 3:00 am. Otherwise, it was an uneventful day . . .

After a few hours sleep, I got up for work Friday morning. But, before heading in, I checked out the rates for Harrah's AC for the weekend. Comp Friday, and $38 Saturday. Why does Harrah's do this to me? I mean, as tired as I was, I could not pass up a weekend in AC at this price. Particularly when the Delaware Lottery was shutting down all gaming at Midnight Saturday in observance of Easter. Indeed, left without any choice, I was heading to AC Friday night . . .

I arrived around 7:00, after taking off work early. Grabbed some dinner, played some video poker, had a few drinks, watched some baseball, and played some blackjack. Around midnight, with second wind in full force, I hopped in a cab destined for Revel, the new casino on the boardwalk.

"Revel. It's on another level."

That's what the TV ad says. In reality, Revel is everything it has been hyped to be . . . and then some. It's Aria with a beach out back. Seriously. It's that nice. More than ten high-end restaurants, multiple lounges and bars, a huge gaming floor, dealers that look like cocktail waitresses, and cocktail waitresses that look like models. I guess you could say I sort of like the place. In fact, it makes me sad to have a Harrah's diamond card.

The poker room is located a level above the gaming floor in an area unlikely to attract casual players. No one is ever going to just stumble upon it. That said, the room has a great vibe.

I played a three hour session from 3:00 am to 6:00am Friday night before finally running out of steam as the sun came up. Conditions were less than ideal. Most of the night, the table ran five-handed. Three of the villains were dealers from neighboring Showboat. The table was, however, friendly, and I somehow managed to double up.

Saturday was mainly spent recovering from Friday evening's excess. Slept right through registration for the noon deep stack at the Nugget. By 7:00 pm, I did find the energy to head to Showboat for the evening tournament, which drew 105 runners - a huge number for a tournament on the boardwalk (albeit far less than what Del Park draws on a daily basis). The structure of the Showboat tournaments is laughable. $53 +$12 . . . 20 minute levels . . . no antes . . . its a complete donk fest. I busted out 35th, unable to get anything going all evening. Ironically, I had flopped a set of Queens and taken a nice size pot the night before against the dealer who dealt me the hand which sent me to the rail. Said dealer's comment as I left the tournament area reflected his satisfaction with the turn-a-bout. All in the nature of good fun, of course . . .

Sunday morning was warm and sunny, particularly for April on the east coast. How could I not stop by Camden Yards on the way home?

I've been to probably three-quarters of the parks around the country and have watched a lot of baseball over the years. A lot. My record for games attended in a single season stands at 68 - an "accomplishment" achieved the year the Nats first moved to DC. I've seen a lot of nice parks. PNC in Pittsburgh ranks high on my list. Wrigley and Fenway are living history. But, in my opinion, nothing tops Camden Yards. It's a simple park. There is not a bad seat in the place. It's a ballpark, not a stadium. And there is no better place to watch a game on a Sunday afternoon. I'll always be a Mets fan first and foremost. Sadly. But the Orioles have become my adopted second favorite (sure; cue the accusations of me being a dirty "frontrunner" . . .). While the O's may not win 60 games this year, on this particular Sunday, Jason Hammel took a no hitter into the eight innings, and the O's prevailed 3-1. A nice way to finish out the weekend.

In other news, looks like a bunch of fellow bloggers will be heading to Vegas around the third week in June. I'm close to pulling the trigger for June 22 - 30th. Hope to see some people there.

TRUST ME, if you root for the Orioles, NO ONE is going to accuse you of being a frontrunner... ;) "Dealers that look like cocktail waitresses, and cocktail waitresses that look like models" - Great line...

@ Coach - I grew up in NY a Mets, Jets, Rangers, Knicks fan . . . I've lived through the series in '86 (yeah, sorry about that one . . .) and the Rangers cup in the early '90's. Beyond that, its just year after year of suffering . . .